HA chief executive wants investment in infrastructure

Highways Agency chief executive Graham Dalton has called on the industry to rise to the challenge if the Government announces major investment in infrastructure during the Spending Review tomorrow (26 June).

Speaking at an event held at the Institution of Civil Engineers on Monday (23 June), Dalton (pictured) revealed that he did not know what’s in the detail but hoped that infrastructure would be prioritised.

He told attendees: “I think we can be pretty certain that infrastructure is important and is a priority. I think you can see from the increases that have gone into my capital budget in each of the last two autumn statements the importance that Government places on road infrastructure and transport infrastructure in general. I do not think there is a fight between roads and railways, or between roads, broadband or anything else. They’re all needed. I think we’re living in some exciting, yet uncertain times.

“By the time we get to the end of this week we’ll get a sight of the ambition that the Government might have for investment in the road network, the transport network and the built infrastructure of the UK. I think we then have to rise to the challenge and to a challenge that I think will be quite difficult to meet. I’m reasonably confident that in terms of investment there’s going to be sufficient money there to do the job and that there will be sufficient ambition for what our infrastructure can do. We can all expect to be busy for a long time.”

Dalton was speaking at an event called ‘London 2012 lessons and legacy’ that was put on by the Roads Academy – a new professional development programme designed to encourage innovation and best practice across the roads industry.

Leaders from Transport for London, the Institution of Civil Engineers, BAM Nuttall and CH2M Hill also spoke at the event.